Carpentry Proposal In Danger

July 26, 1985|By Ines Davis of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — The fulfillment of a longtime goal of Superintendent Max Waters may be in jeopardy because some school board members are undecided about his proposal for a carpentry building at Osceola High School.

The building would house the final course in a construction trades curriculum and would teach advanced carpentry skills. Waters' goal is to use the residential carpentry class as an in-house building program, with students building a house and/or portable classrooms.

Waters said the course would allow students to learn construction skills first hand and would give them marketable skills upon graduation.

The $50,000 item was included in a list of recommended projects for the 1985-86 school year; the money would come from construction funds. The district has $2.7 million available for new projects; $2 million of that would go toward building Gateway High School.

Waters said the construction trades program is the only vocational education curriculum that does not have the final, or completer, program. ''We either have to put it completer course in or forget the whole program.''

Zina Schubert, director of occupational education, echoed Waters. Every other vocational program in the district has completer courses, she said. The construction trades curriculum was implemented about four years ago on a trial basis. Neither Schubert nor Waters know why the final course has not been offered.

While Waters said no one specifically has opposed the plan, ''I get the feeling that they're board members Karen Kerr, Josephine Chen and Martha Anderson not for it.''

Kerr said she's concerned about spending money on the building when other needs -- permanent classrooms -- should take precedence.

Kerr also has said that the Osceola High campus is too crowded and that no more buildings should be put there until the Gateway High students are moved into the new school in January. Gateway High will be housed in portable classrooms at the OHS campus in the meantime.

Waters' lobbying effort arose from the confusion over whether the board members gave a consensus on the recommended list of projects during a recent workshop, or if there was a split with board members Kerr, Chen and Anderson in opposition.

While the three say there was not a consensus, none actually said they would deny Waters' request for the carpentry building. Waters, other staff members and board members Bruce DeBord and Gene Thompson said there was an agreement for the list of recommended projects.

Anderson said Thursday she would like to see a comprehensive study of the building trades curriculum and a clearer explanation of the residential carpentry class before making a decision.

She called Waters' approach ''putting the cart before the horse.''

Anderson also said Waters' overwhelming interest in the construction business is detrimental to the development of well-rounded curriculum. ''He appears to be more interested in construction than the total educational package.''

Waters countered that such statements are political. He said the board needs to support a vocational education program, and a construction trades curriculum is the most appropriate because of the county's growth.

Waters has a background in construction and proposed several ideas that would somehow involve the district in construction. His idea for building portable classrooms in-house was shot down; now he is proposing that the district hire a staff contractor to oversee all building projects.

''For some reason we're not pushing this carpentry course,'' he said.

As it is, the system is ''partially training kids who will go out on the job and make reduced wages,'' he said. ''Instead of making $7 or $8 an hour, they'll be making $3.35 an hour'' when they graduate.